In an ordinary vehicle navigation apparatus, when search conditions for a destination or waypoint (for example, a name or address) are input, setting of the end point of a guidance path or route is performed by referring to a database related to various facilities, sightseeing sites, and the like. Then, a path search is performed, a guidance path from the present location of the vehicle to the end point is determined, and a guidance screen for guiding the vehicle along the determined guidance path is displayed based on map data. The guidance screen includes a map in which the present location of the vehicle, the guidance path, and the like are indicated, and is appropriately updated in response to vehicle movement.
The map data and the database are recorded on a recording medium such as a DVD, a hard disk, or the like. Due to a change in road conditions, an increase or decrease in facilities, or the like, it becomes necessary to update the map data and the database in order for the navigation apparatus to operate effectively. With respect to easily updating map data and the like, for example, in JP 2001-108451A a navigation apparatus is disclosed that, via the internet, communicates with a server apparatus that manages map data and supplemental information. This navigation apparatus records the map data and the supplemental information obtained from the server apparatus to a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory.
A user that uses a rental car for sightseeing or business often drives the rental car in an area the user does not know well. Installation of a navigation apparatus in a rental car is very productive for realizing convenient driving for such a user. For example, in JP 2002-99961A, a car rental system including a navigation apparatus capable of connection to a network, a hotel terminal and a rental car vendor terminal connected to the network is disclosed. In this system, the user accesses the hotel terminal via the network to make a hotel reservation. After receiving notification of that reservation from the hotel terminal, the rental car vendor terminal makes settings in the navigation apparatus via the network such as a guidance path from the location of the rental car vendor and an area in which movement is possible.
At present, many types of navigation apparatuses exist, and operating procedures, the form of screens displayed during operation, the arrangement and shape of operating keys, and the like differ according to the type of navigation apparatus. In most cases, a user who has borrowed a rental car equipped with a navigation apparatus from a rental car vendor likely uses a navigation apparatus of a type they have not yet used, not a navigation apparatus installed in a vehicle that they themselves own. Also, a user who has borrowed a rental car equipped with a navigation apparatus may not have experience using a navigation apparatus.
In the above sort of case, the user operates the navigation apparatus installed in the rental car with reference to a user's manual to perform setting of their desired destination or the like. However, this sort of activity is very burdensome to a user of a rental car engaged in sightseeing or business for limited time. The rental car vendor may make settings in the navigation apparatus before the user departs, but this is meaningless when the destination has been changed or when the rental car is rented for a long period of time.
In the car rental system described in JP 2002-99961A, the guidance path sent from the server apparatus is set in the navigation apparatus, so the burden on the user with respect to operation is likely reduced. However, in this sort of system, the burden of operation is lightened only in a case in which the user travels from the rental car vendor's store to the destination, without taking any detours.
In a case in which the hotel in which the user will stay is the final destination, even if a guidance path from the rental car vendor's store to the hotel is provided, a guidance path directed directly to the destination is nearly meaningless to a user that uses the rental car for business or sightseeing. Even assuming that the guidance path has been set in consideration of waypoints that the user has designated in advance, when the vehicle has deviated from the guidance path for the user to have meals, perform fueling, or the like, circumstances can arise in which it is more effective to newly search for a guidance path using the present location of the vehicle as a start point than to return to the original guidance path. Circumstances can also arise in which the user's plans are changed due to the schedule of a business counterpart or conditions at a sightseeing site, so that the user does not travel to the waypoints as designated. Unforeseen circumstances can also arise in which a fellow passenger suddenly becomes ill, and the user drives the vehicle toward a hospital that is not designated as a waypoint. Thus, it is thought that even when using the car rental system described in JP 2002-99961A, the burden of operating a navigation apparatus is not reduced for an ordinary user using a rental car for business or sightseeing.